To maintain a high vacuum in systems such as apparatuses and/or equipment that operate at high vacuum measures must be taken to not only remove gases from the system to obtain the vacuum but also to prevent diffusion of gases into the system. Connections between components are particularly vulnerable to leakage and/or diffusion of gases into the system.
Typically, low-tech seals such as conventional o-rings do not provide satisfactory seals to inhibit gas diffusion in high vacuum and ultra-high vacuum apparatuses. To provide a satisfactory seal in high vacuum applications, full metallic gaskets are usually required to seal connections between components. While metal gaskets can provide the requisite seal, they have at least three major drawbacks. First full metal gaskets are expensive, secondly, they are single use items and a new gasket is required to reestablish the seal if the seal is broken, and thirdly the gasket must be carefully “seated” and bolted into place to be effective.
Diffusion of gases is not the only “leakage” associated with conventional elastomeric seals. In systems such as systems utilizing lasers leakage of light or photons through seals may also be a problem. As with gases, metal gaskets can provide the requisite seal to block photons, but are expensive, single use and have challenges in installation. Many elastomeric materials have the ability to block some wavelengths of light but typically are transparent to other wavelengths. Thus, in applications in which all wavelengths need to be blocked elastomeric materials are not adequate.
Accordingly, there is a need for a relatively inexpensive, practical, convenient device for sealing the connections between components in high vacuum and ultra-high vacuum system to prevent diffusion of gases and/or photons.